Young Dubliners play Alyeska Resort January 21, 2012

Published: January 11, 2012

January 2, 2012 (Girdwood, Alaska) – With a number of renowned national musical acts scheduled for the winter 2011/12 ski season, Alyeska Resort’s Sitzmark Bar and Grill is particularly excited to announce a special one-night performance by The Young Dubliners on Saturday, January 21, 2012. Known for their loud, high energy style of Celtic rock and roll, the “Dubs” - as their fans fondly call the band - will perform two separate shows during their visit to Alaska. The band also plays the Blue Loon Theatre (www.theblueloon.com) in Fairbanks on Friday night, January 20.

"We really set a very high standard for ourselves as songwriters", says Roberts. "We live on the road, but were aware that if every few years we don’t give our fans the highest quality songs we can, that level of excitement and anticipation may not last forever. We’ve never been about hit singles, but we have always been focused on making the 12 tracks per project the best they could be. We consider ourselves songwriters first and never just jammed styles together to sell albums. Our goal has always been to keep getting better and make the songs mean something.

Beyond the power and energy that infuses and defines their must-see live performances, Roberts believes that the Young Dubliners success over the years is a direct result of the strong songwriting on acclaimed releases like Rocky Road (1994), Breathe (1995), Red (2000), Absolutely (2002) and Real World. As the band developed and its members became better acquainted with their individual strengths and weaknesses, the writing process became more fully collaborative. Rather than simply having individual members bring in fully developed songs, now for the most part they come in with songs in progress and flesh them out together, staying open minded about their individual contributions and being cool about tweaking where it’s warranted.

Building a fervent fan base comparable to that of jam band rockers like Phish and Dave Matthews Band, The Young Dubliners have over the years become notorious for the whirling jig pits that erupt at their live shows. Keith Roberts and Paul O’Toole first met on L.A.'s vibrant pub scene circa late 1980s at a time when Roberts was composing some Irish ballads and thought casually about assembling a rag-tag team of fellow Irish transplants and like-minded American rockers. From their humble beginnings at the Irish Rover, the band evolved through various personnel changes into a pugnacious, crazy but coolly irresistible force of nature that eventually made its way into the studio to record their debut EP Rocky Road.

By 2000, the band had morphed into a septet without O’Toole, and upon releasing the critically acclaimed Red became an international sensation. Actor Gabriel Byrne hired the band to write the theme song for his television show Madigan Men and they spent much of 2001 touring Europe with Jethro Tull and the U.S. as headliners and as openers John Hiatt and Robert Cray. The Young Dubliners were also plucked to rev up the crowds at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. That same year, the band, with the return of Waltz (who had left in 1995), the Dubs scaled back down to a five-piece, launching a period of renewed creative vigor.

After participating in a number of headlining and co-headlining US tours (Johnny Lang, Collective Soul, Great Big Sea, and others, the quintet settled down to record Real World - an album influenced by their predecessors (Waterboys/Pogues/U2/Big Country) and most importantly, life on the road. During the interlude between Absolutely and Real World came an event which drew the band in. Roberts underwent a throat surgery which required months of vocal cord rehabilitation. Reflecting on that time, he says, "My surgery made us all aware of how close we came to losing it all. Our determination to succeed is even stronger than before." The raw live energy of their next project With All Due Respect, The Irish Sessions, was a unique and inspiring way to fill their audience in on the great writers and poets whose legacy the Young Dubliners are, album by album and show by show, boldly carrying on today.

"Even with all the touring we do, the thing that keeps us going is the one thing that never gets old," says Roberts. "And that’s playing those older songs people love and then mixing in a new song and hearing a positive, excited reaction from the crowd for the first time. We’ve had our share of tough gigs too, but all it takes is that one great show, those perfect moments of band and audience communication, to appreciate what were doing up there and why. Its all about the joy of performing, watching the people dance and hearing them sing along."

The Young Dubliners are deep into writing and recording their ninth studio album. The band set the month of November aside to concentrate on the new recording, not an easy feat for a band that spends most of its life on the road. "We just find it very hard to write when we are constantly moving so every few years we have to lock ourselves away and focus exclusively on writing new material" says Keith Roberts, front man for the group. "What made it fun and refreshing is when we realized how many song ideas we had, now we are all excited to get these songs done and out there".

The song writing process has become more and more collaborative for the band with each album. "Knowing each others strengths from playing and writing together for so long has played a big part in allowing each song to develop more quickly". Its one of the unusual cases where "too many chefs actually improves the broth!"

Sitzmark Bar & Grill concerts start at 10:00 P.M. and shows are for ages 21 and over. Tickets for The Young Dubliner show are $20 in advanced or $25 day of show and can be purchased in person at any Alyeska Ticket Office or at the Sitzmark, by phone at 907-754-2275, or online at AlyeskaResort.com. The Sitzmark is open daily during the winter season at 11:00 A.M. serving lunch and dinner. The restaurant offers a casual setting with mountain views, full bar and family-friend activities such as pool, foosball, and darts.

For a complete Sitzmark music calendar and to purchase concert tickets, please visit AlyeskaResort.com.

About Alyeska Resort (www.AlyeskaResort.com)
Alyeska Resort is Alaska's premier year-round destination featuring The Hotel Alyeska, an award-winning 304 room full-service property. Located just 40 miles from Anchorage and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Alyeska Resort is your base camp for summer and winter excursions. Alyeska Resort stands out during ski season with 650” of average snowfall annually and the longest-continuous double black diamond ski run in North America. Learn more about the resort and plan your Alaskan adventure at www.AlyeskaResort.com or 800.880.3880.